In The Great Museum, players take on the roles of the owners of the world's great museums. They vie with each other to build the best museum in the world by collecting artefacts: prehistoric, art, jewellery, statues, sarcophagi, inscriptions, weapons and pottery. These are collected in the Regional exhibition rooms of the museums and organised on the basis of the continent of origin.

In the course of the game you will also host Special Exhibitions such as 'The Relics of Peking Man' or 'the Lost Glory of Carthage' which will require collecting specific sets of exhibits. You also will be on the lookout for clues that will enable you to collect one or two main attractions for your museum – an artefact of global significance such as the Complete Works of Shakespeare or the Sword of Julius Caesar. (Clues can also help with expeditions.)

All of these activities bring your museum value to set it above the rest. In an effort to achieve victory you will fund expeditions around the world, competing with the other players as to which to support and to what extent. You will buy and sell artefacts on the world market, auction them off and you may be tempted to risk the black market. (Just don't get caught or it will look bad for your museum.) You will also invest in action cards which can give you the edge in various aspects of the game.

Four times in the game there is an Exhibition Phase. During this phase you calculate the score of your museum, which is gained from the stars on each tile you own in Regional Halls with bonuses for larger collections. Completed Special exhibitions (active and old) also contribute to your score as do some action cards and the Main Attractions. A museum score is used to calculate how much prestige your Museum gained from that Exhibition Phase as well as how much income it receives for the next turn.

The best managed museum will gain the most Prestige and will win the game. Will yours be the great museum?